Mao Zedong: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) [Hardcover]

Jonathan D. Spence (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Lives | Publication Date: October 1, 1999

An intimate portrait of Mao Zedong, one of the most formidable and elusive rulers in modern history. A leader in a long tradition of Chinese rulers who were able to wield extraordinary powers despite the inconsistencies of their policies, Mao's visions of social and economic change became hopelessly enmeshed with violence and fear. Through relentless energy and a ruthless self-confidence, Mao silenced criticism and immobilized millions of Chinese citizens who -- even when they wished to -- could find no way to halt his overpowering reign.

Spence's depiction of Mao introduces the essential background that any reader needs to make sense of his life. Mao's relations with his family, friends, and confidential assistants, as well as his youthful writings, poems, letters, and drafts of speeches provide fascinating insight into the development of the man, and the sustaining power of his devastating rule.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From humble beginnings in rural Hunan, Mao Zedong became the "Great Helmsman" of Communist China. By the time he died in 1976, he had profoundly changed the course of history. His increasingly erratic whims and graspings at a wild utopia destabilized his immense achievements, and he was ultimately responsible for the deaths of perhaps 60 million people. Jonathan Spence brings great erudition to the story of this flawed colossus. He is particularly enlightening on Mao's early years--it is nearly two-thirds through the book before Mao stands on the walls of the Forbidden City in October 1949 and declares the establishment of the People's Republic of China. The young revolutionary's infamous willfulness is soon apparent, yet Spence rounds out his character by, for example, quoting a poem to his beloved first wife and mentioning the profit he made from an early capitalist venture, a bookstore. Mao Zedong is excellent biography--and more. China was convulsed for nearly a century by almost constant war and revolution, and Spence uses the life of the man at the heart of so many historic events to elucidate the whole momentous epoch. In his many writings, Spence has proved a master at making complex themes easy to understand, and this compact book provides yet another example of his skills. --John Stevenson

From Publishers Weekly

In the latest of the concise Penguin Lives series, China historian Spence (The Gate of Heavenly Peace, etc.) blends historical facts with cultural analysis, creating a work that is fluid and informative despite its brevity. Portraying an intimate Mao (1893-1976), Spence leaves much of the political commentary to other historians, focusing instead on how a boy from the farm villages of Hunan rose to rule the most populous nation in the world. Spence gives readers a Mao who is smart but not wise, unexceptional in almost all qualities except his "inflexible will" and "ruthless self-confidence." He points out that, even at a young age, Mao's perception of governing foreshadowed much of how he eventually did rule: in an essay written about Lord Shang, a Qin dynasty minister, Mao argued that Shang's rule, considered by historians to be cruel, was just ("At the beginning of anything out of the ordinary, the mass of the people always dislike it"). "I have come," writes Spence, "to think of the enigmatic arena in which Mao seemed most at home as being that of order's opposite, the world of misrule." The shortness of the form enablesAor requiresASpence to accelerate the pace of Mao's life, thus adding drama to the sea change in Mao's character from na?ve idealist to cunning political infighter and center of a personality cult. The Mao who lingers on the last page is a somewhat diminished, Lear-like figure, estranged from his wife and ultimately unsure of whether his revolution had a future. When Henry Kissinger praised Mao's writings during their famous meeting, the chairman responded: "I think that, generally, people like me sound like a lot of big canons." (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670886696
• ISBN-13: 978-0670886692
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative and concise, but unsatisfying, March 29, 2000

By 

Richard E. Hegner (Columbia, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mao Zedong: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) (Hardcover)

Jonathan Spence's biography of Mao was my first experience with the new Penguin Lives series, and I was unsure what to expect. Certainly, one cannot expect too much from a biography of one of the major political figures of the 20th century that offers only 178 pages of text and 10 pages of endnotes. But I was game to try it, since I knew very little about Mao and gathered I would learn a lot in a relatively short time from this biography.

Spence certainly succeeds in compressing most of the major events of Mao's life into this thin volume, and concisely reviews much of Mao's political thought and how it evolved. He also does a good job of mining source materials, particularly some of Mao's more obscure writing and poetry. But my major frustration in reading this book was a feeling that I never learned much about Mao as an individual human being, except that he came from obscure bourgeois peasant roots, that he was "married" at least four times and had at least ten children with whom he had rather distant relationships, and that as the years passed, he became more and more of a megalomaniac. I would also fault the book for giving minimal attention to the history of the times and to Mao's principal comrades in arms. (For example, Zhou Enlai does not appear until the final quarter of the book and gets minimal mention at that. The Long March gets only 2-3 pages.) Also somehwat curious is that the book lacks an index.

All of that said, however, this is a remarkably informative book given its length. I should emphasize that the text on each page measures lightly under 6 x 4 inches, too--so not only is it a short book, but also a small book. I put the book down eager to learn more about Mao, which I suppose does commend it to other readers who know as little as I did before I read it.

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Overrated Mao Zedong, December 24, 1999

By A Customer

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This review is from: Mao Zedong: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) (Hardcover)

I felt this book--more a monograph than a biography--was a bit too cursory to really get at the heart of Mao. The war years are covered in just a few pages, and the period of Mao's reign is covered in much the same fashion. I found myself wanting to know a lot more. Considering the relative importance of Mao's reign compared with his early life, it's a little strange so much time is spent in these early years. After reading the book, I still don't get a clear picture of how Mao was able to parlay himself into the leading figure in communist party and then how he was able to keep so much power to himself later on. In short, it was a fair introduction, but it lacked depth and balance.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An incomplete biography, November 25, 2000

By 

Unsatisfied (Redwood City, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mao Zedong: A Penguin Life (Penguin Lives) (Hardcover)

For better or worse, I'm a vetran reader of Mao biographies. Jonathan Spence's biography was intially appealing given both his history of success in writing about the Chinese revolution and the relatively compact nature of this book. Given that I hadn't read a Mao article or bio in a little while, I was hoping Mr. Spence's book would be a Mao refresher with some added perspectives and insight only Mr. Spence could give. Although wrong in the second sense and right in the first, the book did prove to be interesting.

The book is, and I imagine by design, a very incomplete look at Mao's life. For example, only until well after the half way point is there any mention of the all important Zhou En-Lai. In the same sense, Mr. Spence chooses only to provide very specific details and stories regarding Mao's life. Thus, the perception of Mao isn't really of human but a slogan of some sort. If this is a reader's first Mao biography, I imagine the reader to be both confused and wanting after reading the book.

Instead, Mr. Spence chooses to focus specifically on the question of why China went nuts for Mao, and what Mao role in this was. Because of this, despite the length, the book was a success. As a result, the book is a commentary on Chinese culture through the Mao period, and a note on demigods. Passages about Mao, and the book as a whole are targeted to answer these questions.

For the Novice Mao reader, I'm convinced the book will be a disapointment. Conversely, this book is in an interpretation of China through a difficult period explained through one character: Mao.